It's no great secret that our economy isn't doing as well as it used to — from rising gas prices to rising inflation and from foreclosures to bank takeovers, plenty of people are pretty concerned with the way the economy is heading. In a new poll from the National Women's Law Center, almost 60 percent of women — but only 46 percent of men — say they are "worried and concerned about achieving [their] economic and financial goals over the next five years." I guess when you make 20 percent less than men on average and face a widening pay gap with men as you age, it tends to make you a touch more worried about your future!The poll also shows that 75 percent of women support increased government spending on child care and early childhood education compared to 59 percent of men — and fully 77 percent of women identified pay equity as a must-do issue after the Inauguration in January. These results could help explain the 49-39 percent lead Barack Obama has over John McCain at the moment (since only one of them supports increasing spending on child care and education or a pay equity bill), but it doesn't explain why that gap isn't larger. In the meantime, some women are finding alternate ways of making ends meet — through egg donation. Of course, the article is filled with the appropriate amount of "concern" and approbation that women are (gasp) selling their eggs as opposed to subjecting themselves to weeks of difficult and painful procedures simply out of the kindness of their baby-loving hearts. I don't recall there being this kind of paternalism present when it was more common for men to jerk off in cups for money to "help" women get pregnant, but it wasn't that much money, either. Sperm are a dime a dozen, but eggs are are just half a cell away from being citizens if some people have their way. Poll: Economic Anxiety Among Women [Politico] Pay Gap Persists: Women Still Make Less, Study Says [USA Today] Poll: Trouble Signs in Obama's Lead [Time] Dim Economy Drives Women To Donate Eggs For Profit [CNN]